1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper-leaves discriminating apparatus for use in automatic teller machines (ATM), vending machines or the like for the purpose of discriminating between the truth and falsehood or sorts of paper leaves (for example, paper money, securities), and more particularly to a mounting construction for a sensor made to take out characteristic quantity information (magnetic information, printed image information, optical information, and others) needed for the discrimination from paper leaves.
2) Description of the Related Art
In general, in an automatic teller machine, a vending machine or the like, a paper-leaves discriminating apparatus is installed in order to discriminate between the truth and falsehood or sorts of paper money (paper leaves) inserted thereinto. A description will be made hereinbelow as the paper-leaves discriminating apparatus is an apparatus for discriminating between the truth and falsehood of paper money, that is, serves as a paper money discriminating machine.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a construction of a common paper money discriminating machine. As shown in FIG. 10, the common paper money discriminating machine is made up of an image sensor 101, a magnetic line sensor 102, an image sensor database 103, a magnetic line sensor database 104, a discriminating circuit 105 and a truth-falsehood deciding circuit 106.
The image sensor 101 and the magnetic line sensor 102 are fitted to a frame of the paper money discriminating machine 100, and are disposed along a conveyance passage of paper money (paper leaves) 110 inserted from the outside.
The image sensor 101 is for reading out a printed image on the paper money 110, while the magnetic line sensor 102 is for detecting a quantity of magnetism contained in ink forming the printed image on the paper money 110. This magnetic line sensor 102 is constructed by integrally forming, for example, 32 (or 64) magnetic detecting elements, and is disposed along the longitudinal direction of the paper money (a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the paper money 110) to detect magnetic quantities at 32 (or 64) points existing within a range of the entire width of the paper money 110 in its longitudinal direction.
Furthermore, the image sensor database 103 is made to store information about a printed image on normal paper money beforehand, while the magnetic line sensor database 104 is made to store magnetic quantities at the aforesaid 32 (or 64) points existing over the entire width of normal paper money in its longitudinal direction in advance.
Still further, the discriminating circuit 105 checks the printed image on the paper money 110 read through the image sensor 101 with the printed image information on the normal paper money stored in the image sensor database 103, and further, checks the magnetic intensity at each of the points detected through the magnetic line sensor 102 with the magnetic intensity at each of the points of the normal paper money, stored in the magnetic line sensor database 104, thereby accomplishing the discrimination of the paper money 110.
The truth-falsehood deciding circuit 106 makes a decision on whether the paper money 110 is true or false, on the basis of the discrimination result (information about the check result) by the discriminating circuit 105.
In the paper money discriminating machine thus constructed, the paper money 110 inserted from the outside is conveyed along the conveyance passage while the printed image on the paper money 110 is read through the image sensor 101, and the magnetic quantities at the aforesaid 32 (or 64) points existing over the entire width of the paper money 110 in its longitudinal direction are detected through the magnetic line sensor 102.
The information obtained by these sensors 101 and 102 are inputted to the discriminating circuit 105 where the printed image on the paper money 110 from the image sensor 101 is checked with the printed image information about the normal paper money in the image sensor database 103, and the magnetic intensity obtained from the magnetic line sensor 102 is checked with the magnetic intensity of the normal paper money in the magnetic line sensor database 104, thereby making the discrimination of the paper money 110. Further, the truth-falsehood deciding circuit 106 finally makes a decision, on the basis of the discrimination result (information about the check result) by the discriminating circuit 105, on whether the paper money 110 is true or false.
In the above-described paper money discriminating machine, the magnetic line sensor 102 detects the magnetic information on the paper money 110, being discriminated, at many points existing over its entire width to extract a characteristic (magnetic distribution) such as the configuration of points having a high magnetic intensity and points having a low magnetic intensity so that a decision between the truth and the falsehood of the paper money 110 is made in a manner that the extracted characteristic is checked with the magnetic intensity information (magnetic distribution) on the normal paper money in the magnetic line sensor database 104.
Thus, the following problems come about. That is, the magnetic line sensor 102 involves a special order conforming to the sizes of paper money to be discriminated, which extremely raises its cost. In addition, since the magnetic line sensor database 104 is required to store a bulky volume of magnetic intensity information, the circuit for this magnetic line sensor database 104 or the check processing circuit becomes complicated and costly. Besides, the discriminating processing takes a long period of time.
Incidentally, the employment of the above-mentioned magnetic line sensor 102 permits a change or addition of the checking magnetic intensity information to be stored in the magnetic line sensor database 104 to easily deal with the case of a change of the discriminating way (for example, the replacement of the issuing nation or sort of the paper money to be discriminated or the addition of new paper money to be discriminated).
Meanwhile, in the case that the check of paper money relies upon the magnetic quantities, in fact, there is no need to use the magnetic distribution over the entire width of the paper money, and since the magnetic characteristic of the paper money appears or develops at several places in the width direction (direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction) of the paper money, the detection of the magnetic quantities at the several places allows the check of the paper money depending upon the magnetic quantities.
For this reason, consideration may be given to fixedly attaching a plurality of magnetic heads to a frame in order to detect the magnetic quantities at several places. However, the employment of such a structure makes it difficult to easily cope with the change of paper money to be discriminated. That is, the replacement of the paper money signifies the variation of the position at which the magnetic characteristic appears, and therefore, involves the change of the locations of the plurality of magnetic head, which requires the replacement of the frame itself.